As One Door Closes
by TrudyW
Summary: After Circe's death Rex discovers that love had been right under his nose all along.  Rating for final chapter, will contain SLASH
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer** : All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators or producers of any media franchise. no copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter One -Taken

It had been 10 years since the nanite event that had changed the world. Rex was now twenty years old but apart from getting older little else had changed. He was still working for Providence, still curing EVO's and fighting prejudice from those who felt that the only good EVO was a dead EVO. Rex couldn't understand that attitude, there were now many hundreds of people still living productive lives, raising their families because Rex had cured them, but even so many would rather see Rex in a cage or even dead just for being an EVO.

There was one other thing that hadn't changed Rex mused as he lay on the bed in his quarters, he was still in love with Circe but she still refused to leave Van Kleiss to be with him in Providence. Rex thought back over the years since he had first met Circe in Cabo Luna, he'd been able to keep tabs on her, seeing her briefly any number of times when he clashed with the Pack as Rex worked to thwart Van Kleiss at every opportunity.

They'd even been able to contrive the odd stolen meeting when they could just talk and spend time together, but eventually Rex couldn't keep silent any longer and he would try to persuade her to leave Van Kleiss and the Pack and to come with him to Providence. He'd thought the last few times that she might be weakening but so far each meeting ended the same as Circe refused to listen to his arguments and stormed off back to Abysus.

Suddenly a loud klaxon blared out through Rex's quarters and with a resigned sigh Rex hauled himself to his feet and trudged towards the door. Van Kleiss had declared war on Providence and launched a major offensive which had seen Rex responding to 2 or 3 EVO incidents a day for the last month. Rex was tired, not just normal tired but bone-deep, walking in his sleep exhaustion and no-one else at Providence was in much better shape.

As Rex walked into the Keep he saw Six pushing wearily up from where he slouched against one of the control panels. The rank and file Providence soldiers were exhausted, working a heavy schedule to meet the demands made by the current high levels of incidents. Others like Rex and Six had responded to every incident and were on the verge of total collapse. Unfortunately Van Kleiss had the advantage in the current situation, he could create new EVOs to send against Providence with a touch and he had no concern for their survival. However training Providence soldiers took time, time they didn't have at the moment and key individuals were irreplaceable.

Rex followed Agent Six into a Providence carrier airship and collapsed into a seat. It seemed like no time at all before his mentor was shaking him awake as they landed in the parking lot outside a large shopping mall. Afternoon shoppers were streaming out of the doors as they ran in terror from the EVO rampaging inside. Revived by his short nap Rex headed out as soon as the loading doors opened and hurried into the mall with Agent Six and the soldiers following close behind. Inside the sound of crashing and banging, breaking furniture and the screams of those who had been unable to get out swiftly led the Providence team to the food court. A large EVO was swiftly reducing the area to rubble, the creature resembled a woolly mammoth, if mammoths were covered in long, matted brownish grey hair, had six legs spaced evenly around the circumference of their spherical bodies, six immensely long tentacular trunks growing in a cluster from the middle of their back and six pairs of mighty tusks set in the spaces between the legs.

Rapidly surveying the scene Rex spotted the group of civilians cowering amongst the small oasis of Palm trees set in the centre of the ruined food court. Turning to Six he saw that his handler had seen the danger and was heading in that direction with a contingent of soldiers to try to clear the civilians out of the danger zone. Wanting to end this confrontation as quickly as possible Rex eyed the monster in front of him. As he watched its tree trunk like legs smashed the chairs and tables to kindling while the flailing tentacles and swinging tusks demolished columns and uprooted trees. One thrashing tentacle came dangerously close to whipping Six off of his feet but the agile man in green managed to duck and roll under the vicious appendage before coming up running.

Deciding that his best chance was to get beneath the behemoth Rex ran in heading for the space between two of the enormous legs, suddenly a tusk swept in from the side and Rex leapt up to land on the graceful sweep of ivory before using one hand to swing around the column and over to the gargantuan leg behind it. Rex thrust his hands and feet deep into the shaggy wool coat of the creature, gripping tightly so as not to be dislodged by the movement of the beast. Once he felt secure in his grip he struggled to work his right hand deeper into the matted hair, trying to find bare skin so that he could make contact and use his power to rein in the rampaging nanites that had caused this terrible transformation.

After trying for several minutes with no success he decided that the coat was simply too dense and instead he began to climb up the impressive limb he was clinging too, trying to find a spot where the coat might be thinner and allow him easier access to the bare skin beneath. Climbing past the flexing knee joint as the monster continued to destroy anything in it's vicinity was tricky but eventually Rex managed it and the next six feet up to the point where it joined with the bulbous body was relatively straight forward with the matted coat providing plentiful hand and foot holds. Now Rex needed to make a decision as to where he was most likely to find the access that he needed. Surveying the shaggy underbelly he saw the matted, greasy hair hanging down two or three feet. Recoiling at the thought of that disgusting mess trailing over the exposed skin of his face and hands he opted to continue climbing upwards.

Finally rounding the curve of the body he found himself some twenty feet above the ground with the cluster of massive tentacles erupting from the creatures back some seven feet in front of him. The shaggy hair coat thinning more the closer he got to the tentacles, and so far his luck appeared to be holding, the heavy coat deadening the skins sensitivity so that the creature had not yet noticed his presence. However the thinner the coat became the more likely it was that the creature would begin to feel as Rex clung securely to its back. Crawling forward he reached a point where the long, matted, hair gave way to a dense fur covering and Rex decided to try again to cure the EVO. Thrusting his hand deep down he finally felt bare skin beneath his palm. Flattening his palm against the wrinkled flesh he turned his mind inwards to push his nanites to cure the monster. Rex was thankful that his nanite capacity had grown greatly over the years since the destruction of Paradise base but even so with the continuous wave of incidents over the preceding weeks he was very close to overload. Luckily since the discovery of the control nanite the effort required to enact a cure had reduced significantly. Rex had practiced for many long hours to isolate the control and now by simply pushing that one nanite he could direct it to push all the others to follow its commands.

Pushing a little harder he felt his nanites begin to engage with those inside the nightmare creature he was perched upon and slowly it shuddered to a halt and began to breakdown. Rex suddenly found himself falling through the remains of the EVO to land in a mess of long, tangled hair next to the naked body of a slender young woman. Struggling to his feet he looked around to see a Providence clean-up crew already heading in to secure the victim and dispose of the remnants of the creature. Rex surveyed the scene before striding over to where he had last seen his handler / nanny, Agent Six. He was relieved to see the green clad man re-folding his katanas and sheathing them back up his sleeves as he handed over his rescued civilians to more members of the clean-up crew.

Falling into step beside his mentor as they walked through the destruction back towards the carrier Rex spoke softly so as not to cause alarm amongst the troops. "I'm seriously close to overload, we need to try to work in a trip to Purgatory base soon, especially if things carry on at this rate."

Six was about to respond when he saw an angry looking red portal opening behind the oblivious Rex, before he had time to react four arms, two green and reptilian, two white furred with long, vicious claws, reached through the portal and pulled Rex away. The portal closed swiftly leaving a stunned Six staring at the empty space which had just moments before been occupied by the only hope that the human race had to survive the EVO menace.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two - Captive

Rex saw the look of dawning horror in Six's face and felt the strong arms enfold him from behind followed by a sharp sting in the back of his neck. After that he knew nothing more as the nanite overload engulfed him and he sank down into blackness.

When next he pulled himself up into consciousness he felt himself strapped upright, crucifix style to a table which bore an uncanny resemblance to those he'd seen in old movies used for execution by lethal injection. He pulled weakly at the restraints holding his arms to the crosspieces but he had no strength left in his body and felt himself pulled back down into the deep, dark depths of unconsciousness. The last thing he heard as the blackness closed around his mind was a voice which he felt he should recognise.

"Lessen the drain, he's no fun if he can't stay awake."

The next time he awoke he felt stronger, he still felt like he'd loose a battle with a new born kitten, but at least this time he had the strength to open his eyes and check out his surroundings. He found that he was indeed strapped to a cruciform table in what seemed to be a laboratory of some kind. He was wearing only a light hospital gown and the slight chill in the room had him shivering badly in his current weakened condition. At first no-one was in sight but soon he heard swift, sure footsteps from outside his range of vision and the familiar face of Van Kleiss quickly appeared in front of him.

"Van Kleiss, I should have known." Rex panted out the words, even that effort almost more than he could summon in his present state. "What have you done to me?"

"Rex, is that any way to greet your host?" Van Kleiss asked jovially as he moved to check the readings on one of the control panels encircling the room.

"I'd apologise but the accommodations leave much to be desired." Rex answered back trying to distract his captor as he struggled to reach his nanites in order to conjure his smackhands and break free from his bonds.

Knowing exactly what it was that Rex was trying to do Van Kleiss gave an evil laugh, "I'd save your strength if I were you. The series of raids I set up for Providence had you stuffed full of prime nanites, it was so easy to push you into full overload with a simple syringe of a nanite infested solution." Van Kleiss explained how they had overcome Rex so easily and now Rex realised that the previous weeks of soul grinding fights had been contrived by the evil genius for the sole purpose of setting him up for this moment. "But don't worry, I've dealt with the overload now, most of the nanites have been drained from your system and stored up for me to feed upon whenever I begin to destabilise, the apparatus is not set to drain you completely, we need to leave a few in your system to keep you alive. That way you continue to harvest more nanites from the environment which I can siphon off at will."

Rex stared in horror at his captor understanding that he had been set up as some kind of human all you can eat buffet for the delight and delectation of his worst enemy.

Van Kleiss gave a delighted laugh and licked his fingertips in turn in the manner of someone cleaning up after a good meal, "I don't know what it is but there is just something about nanites after they have been processed by your system, it gives them an extra..." he cast about himself looking for the right word "tang."

Horrified by the situation he found himself in Rex struggled in a mad frenzy trying to free himself but only exhausted himself more quickly and slipped back into the comforting arms of the darkness.

Waking again he kept his eyes closed and feigned continued unconsciousness, reaching inwards with his mind he tried to access the control nanite and assess his condition. He quickly saw that his nanite count and biometrics while not life threatening were still dangerously low.

"Pretending to sleep won't help you."

Rex's eyes sprang open at the familiar voice and he saw Circe perched upon a stool at the control panel in front of him. He wanted to thank God and call out for her to free him but realising that anyone could be standing behind him out of his range of vision he knew he had to be careful to avoid incriminating the woman he loved.

"Circe, still doing Van Kleiss's dirty work I see." He sneered at her with all the derision he could manage.

"At least I'm not being used as a weapon of genocide against my own kind" came the biting reply from the beautiful, red and black haired EVO.

Unable to muster the strength for a prolonged battle of wits Rex simply turned his head away fought off the desire to fill his gaze with the vision of the young woman he still hoped to seduce away from Van Kleiss's clutches and show her that there was a better option for EVOs like themselves than that offered by the Pack.

After maybe five minutes spent staring at the wall of the chamber Rex's wariness was rewarded by the sound of receding footsteps and the click of a closing door. He looked back to the front to see Circe already off of her stool and moving to stand directly in front of him. She raised her hand to stroke gently down the side of his face and a feeling of relief flooded through Rex's mind. He knew that there wasn't much Circe could do to help him without endangering her own position but even so it felt good to know that there was one person on his side in this horrible place.

"I'm so sorry Rex, I've been trying to get a warning out to you ever since he made his plans known but I've been watched every second, he was standing right behind you when you awoke, hoping that you would betray me unknowingly, he's gone now, I'm to be your jailor. He's an evil man. I should have listened to you all those years ago. I'm so sorry."

"It's OK Circe," Rex strained forward with his arm, desperately wanting to return her touch, eventually he sagged back against his restraints acknowledging that he could not break free. "You said you'd tried to get a warning out, could you get word to Six telling him where we are, anything to help them find us?"

"I'll try" she whispered before darting back to her stool and regaining her seat just in time as the doors opened to admit Van Kleiss once more. The tall, pale skinned man strode into the room to stand squarely in Rex's field of vision, his brown duster hanging impeccably from his shoulders, black boots polished to a high shine rivalled only by the gleam on the robotic hand which completed his right arm.

"Awake again I see" he commented glancing from Rex to Circe and back again. "You know at one point I thought that there was something between you two." Glancing at Rex through his grey streaked fringe Van Kleiss shrugged off his little delusion. "Of course I now know how wrong I was, but understand this." He paused dramatically before his robot arm shot out to grip Circe loosely by the throat "Circe will be your jailor and your nursemaid while you are staying with us, she will take care of all your bodily needs as well as ensuring that the drain is set high enough to keep you controlled but low enough to keep you alive. But!" The emphasis on that last word made it clear that they would not like what was coming next, "if anything untoward happens to you on her watch she will make up the deficit in my nanite supply." Circe paled at the threat and Rex fought hard against his restraints but with no greater success than any of his previous attempts to free himself. "I'm sure that I don't need to remind either of you how that would turn out."

Rex could not prevent his mind from straying back over those victims of Van Kleiss's feeding habits that he had seen throughout the years. While Van Kleiss had control of his nanites in a very similar way to Rex himself, Van Kleiss's system was not stable and he needed a constant supply of nanites to prevent total breakdown. Victims of his feeding were petrified, turned to stone immortalising the abject terror of their final moments.

Having delivered his warning Van Kleiss released Circe and stroked her hair in a gentle gesture so at odds with the oversized robotic appendage. Van Kleiss's right hand was a wicked looking prosthetic, each finger tipped with large needles designed to extract nanites from those unfortunates who crossed his path when the deadly hunger came upon him.

Feeling deep satisfaction at the looks of stunned horror that he left behind him Van Kleiss quickly left the laboratory to think of new ways to inflict torture upon his captive and his reluctant minion.

Looking hopefully over at Circe in the uncomfortable silence left in the wake of the evil puppet master, Van Kleiss, Rex said the first thing that came into his head.

"So, does that mean you will be escorting me to the bathroom?"

Circe's eyes flew to his face and she gave a slightly unbalanced giggle at his pragmatic concern in the face of the threat on her life.

"Um, not exactly." She moved over to open one of the cupboards and pulled out a large, wide-necked bottle.

Rex took a moment to realise what she was holding then his face flamed suddenly crimson as he gulped and dropped his gaze to study the floor intently.

"Tell me you're joking" he begged but the determined look on her face told him she was deadly serious. "What about number t..." he stopped short "on second thoughts, I don't want to know."

"Do you need..." Circe asked, gesturing with the bottle still in her hand.

"No, not just now thanks." Rex muttered, "could you just..." he paused "put that thing away?"

Leaning down to the cupboard Circe replaced the bottle and swiftly closed the door with a firm click.

"Don't worry Circe, I couldn't ask you to risk your life, Six will find me and when I leave you are coming with me!" The sudden change in the conversation confused the young female EVO but then she just nodded, her final resistance having fallen in the face of Van Kleiss's threats.

"Tell me about Providence" she asked wanting to take both their minds off of the current situation.

"It's safe and we help as much as we can. I've been able to save hundreds of people by curing them when they go EVO and I couldn't have done that without their support. And of course there's Six, he's been there for me since the day I arrived at Providence. Did you know we share the same birthday?"

"Really?" asked Circe.

"Well kinda, it's complicated but since no-one knows when my birthday actually is they decided to make it the day I got to Providence, and it just happens to be Six's birthday as well."

"You spend a lot of time with him don't you?"

"I do, it's his job to keep me safe when we're out on a mission, and he's kind of amazing at it. In fact he's kind of amazing in general, have you seen him wield his katanas, we've worked together for so long it's like we can read each other's minds in a fight."

And so began several hours of stories of Rex's time at Providence, Circe couldn't help but notice the number of stories that centred on Agent Six and the virtual hero worship with which Rex seemed to regard his mentor. She tuned out the stories after a while and instead contemplated how she was going to get word to Providence and how she was going to break Rex out without sacrificing her own life in the process.

Finally having come up with the basics of a plan that she could use as a starting point Circe tuned back in to Rex's monologue and realised that he was looking increasingly uncomfortable and glancing towards the cupboard where she had stashed the bottle.

"You need?" she nodded in the direction of the cupboard.

Rex just nodded, unable to bring himself to meet her eyes.

That set the pattern for the next few days, they would talk, Rex would tell stories of his escapades with Providence, especially with Agent Six and Circe would take care of his bodily needs. Rex was permanently hungry, Van Kleiss supplied him with the absolute minimum of food to keep him alive and Circe dare not supplement his diet with her own rations. Occasionally Van Kleiss came in to check the readings on the control panel to ensure Rex's nanite levels did not get too high. Over time he seemed to begin to trust Circe more and eventually he stopped checking the controls and simply came in to gloat over the absence of any rescue team from Providence.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three - Escape

Three days later the pattern changed when Van Kleiss walked into Rex's vision flanked by Biowolf and Skalamander. Circe stepped quietly to one side allowing her boss easy access to the control panel and Rex hung, slumped in his restraints trying to look as pathetic as possible. To be honest that wasn't all that difficult after several days of little food and the constant drain of nanites from his system.

Van Kleiss declined to check the control panels and instead stood surveying Rex with a critical eye. Biowolf and Skalamander were joking around holding their noses and making gagging motions. Their leader simply smiled at their antics and called out "you have a point boys, hose him down!" as he left.

Rex jerked up his head in disbelief at the words only to see the two animalistic EVOs attaching hoses to the taps on each side of the laboratory and turning the faucets to full Rex found himself drenched in icy water as the two hoses were gleefully played over his body from head to foot, the hospital gown he was wearing quickly became soaked and clung indecently to his slender form.

Rex thrashed wildly within the restraints but quickly tired and just hung limply fighting back tears as he wallowed briefly in abject misery.

Once Rex stopped fighting his tormentors soon became bored and dropping the hoses Biowolf growled, "clean up this mess girl" to Circe as they too left the room, chuckling gleefully to themselves.

As soon as the door closed Circe hurried to turn off the faucets and to mop up the mess on the floor. Seeing the state that Rex was in she decided she couldn't afford to hold off any longer on her plan of escape. She moved surreptitiously over to the controls of the nanite drain machine and turned them down slightly. If Van Kleiss questioned her on the new settings she would claim that Rex needed the extra nanites to survive after his recent cold shower. If he didn't question her then she would continue to reduce the drain slightly every day to allow Rex to recover some of his strength in preparation for their escape.

Picking up the small towel which was all she had available to try to dry Rex off she moved over and started to rub him down briskly hoping to massage some warmth into his frozen limbs. Under guise of drying his hair she managed to whisper into his ear, "you should start to feel stronger over the next few days, keep up the pretence of weakness, you need time to recover sufficiently for us to get out of here."

Now that the first part of her plan was underway Circe urgently needed to find a way to communicate her plans to Providence. That night lying in the camp bed provided for her use Circe mused on what she had learned of Rex from his stories over the previous few days. While he unfailingly professed his undying love for her every time they managed to meet, after listening to the cadence of his voice every time he talked about Agent Six she began to ponder on the sheltered upbringing that Rex had received at Providence, maybe his feelings weren't as clear cut as they seemed on the surface. Reaching a decision she pulled out several sheets of smuggled paper and started on the first of two letters that she needed to write that night.

After that first time a new element was added to their daily routine as every evening Biowolf and Skalamander would come by laughing uproarously and hose Rex down in the name of hygiene.

It was two days later that Circe finally spotted an opportunity to finally put the last stage of her plan into place.

Van Kleiss had let up on the continuous EVO attacks since they had captured Rex but now he decided that he needed to keep Providence on their toes. He needed a large scale incident as a distraction, forcing Providence to pull resources from the search for Rex. He planned to target a busy business district at rush hour, striking as the drones were leaving their office jobs he intended to take a stroll among the homeward bound commuters and activate the nanites in as many of them as he possibly could in a short amount of time. Seeing her chance to get out of Pack HQ for long enough to send a message she made her suggestion.

"Rather than relying on the EVOs to spread out and cause havoc, why not situate me across town, I can call them to me andthey should leave a swath of chaos and destruction across the heart of the city."

Hesitating Van Kleiss examined the suggestion and whilst he was sure that Circe was hiding some ulterior motive he agreed that the idea was a good one.

"Skalamander, you'll go with her, to make sure she comes back safely."

Circe had hoped she would be allowed to go on her own but knew that realistically that was too much to ask for. Still it could have been worse, Skalamander should be much easier to fool than Biowolf would have been. Nodding her acquiescence Circe knew better than to object.

"Good, then we leave in two hours. Biowolf, Skalamander make sure that the transports are fuelled and ready to go, Circe check on the prisoner and be sure that he will be OK unsupervised for a few hours.

Two hours later Circe was seated in the smaller cruiser beside Skalamander as he drove her to her assigned position. She felt intense guilt for the people who were going to suffer and die today in order to give her the opportunity to save Rex. Still he had given up so much in his life and if she was able to save him then she knew he would go on to save thousands more. Maybe it was a callous decision, but it was one she could live with. Shifting slightly in her seat she could feel the envelope tucked into the back of her skirt.

Arriving at their destination in a grove of trees hidden back away from the street Circe started to climb out of the vehicle only to be pulled back by Skalamander. "Not so fast girly, open the window, you can call from here."

"Look Skaly, I know I'm powerful but unless I get closer to the street with a clear line of sight to Van Kleiss's position we're not going to get half the result we should. Wait for me here." And with that she continued to climb confidently out of the vehicle as if there was no doubt in her mind that Skalamander would give in to her arguments. The lizard EVO was confused by her attitude but was so used to following orders from Van Kleiss and Biowolf that he fell back on familiar patterns and allowed her to proceed unmolested.

Moving off into the trees she looked around her for someone who could deliver the letter. Seeing two young children playing catch nearby she looked around for the adults who she expected to be close by. Spotting two young women chatting on a park bench she hurried over, pulling out the letter from her waistband as she walked.

"Please, can you post this for me, it's urgent" she spoke hurriedly, looking around furtively to ensure Skalamander hadn't followed her.

Looking alarmed at being accosted by a frantic stranger the young women gathered their things, calling their children to them they started to back away.

"Please, it's just a letter to a friend, I need help and he'd... he'd get angry if he knew I tried to contact anyone." Circe skillfully manipulated the truth, every word she spoke was truth but she knew she would convey a completely different impression to her audience.

Sharing a quick glance with her friend the bolder of the two women stepped forward and reached out to take the letter from her hand.

"Thank you, so much" Circe thrust the letter at the woman and rushed off back to her position. Checking her watch she saw that it was time to do her part and calling up her nanites she felt her secondary mouth begin to extend from within her normal one and soon the tubular organ had reached it's full length and she loosed her sonic howl to attract any EVOs in the range of her voice.

After she had let out several howls and was sure that she would have been heard by the EVOs being triggered by Van Kleiss she headed back to rejoin Skalamander for the trip back to the Abysus base.

Satisfied that Noah would receive the envelope by the end of the day Circe feigned excitement as Van Kleiss switched on the large monitor on their return in order to view the news footage of the afternoons EVO incident. As she saw just how successful her ploy had been in causing the EVO herd to stampede down main street Circe had to struggle to contain her nausea and as soon as was decently possible she excused herself and returned to the lab to check on Rex.

Rex had been sleeping when she left and Circe had been glad to escape without having to answer awkward questions. Now he was awake and wanted to know where she had been.

"Sending a message for Agent Six, it tells him exactly where we are and lets him know that we plan to leave in four days time."

"In four days! Why are we waiting so long? I'm feeling much stronger, we should go now" Rex exclaimed eager to get out of the restraints. "I don't want you in danger for any longer than necessary.

"Because we need someone on the outside to help us, I think I can get us out of here but Van Kleiss will catch us pretty quickly unless we have some help getting away once we are outside." Circe explained patiently.

"I can get us away, just get us out of here and I can fly us home."

"At full strength I'm sure you could but you aren't even close to that and won't be for a long while. You're feeling good now but that's only in comparison with how you were feeling when you first woke up. In truth you're at barely 1% of your normal strength."

Rex grunted in disgust but he had to trust to Circe to take charge of their escape as he remained helpless, drained of the majority of his nanites and strapped to this cross for the last five days.

"Is there any chance of getting me off of this rig for a while, even if it's only for ten minutes, I really need to move around, " Rex was on the verge of begging.

"I'm sorry Rex, I can't, you know I can't" She knew how desperate he was, for someone so full of life and movement, to be contained in one position for this long must be murder. "Van Kleiss or one of his goons could come in at any moment, it's too risky."

Rex hung his head for a moment. "I know, I'm sorry, I'm just going stir crazy strapped up like this."

Circe stepped up to cup Rex's cheek in her hand and he closed his eyes and nuzzled into the caress. "Not much longer, just rest up and regain your strength, as long as Six gets my message he will arrange a distraction in four days time to lure Van Kleiss, Biowolf and Skalamander away. As soon as they leave I'll reverse the drain to top you up with as many nanites as possible in a short amount of time and then we leave."

"Thank you Circe" was all Rex could say but the look in his eyes said all she needed to hear.

The following days dragged by for Rex, he spent the time talking to Circe as she tried her hardest to keep his mind off of his situation. Slowly he felt his strength returning but he was careful to maintain the illusion of weakness, spending most of his time hanging in the restraints feigning unconsciousness. He portrayed his role so well that at one point Van Kleiss actually suggested Circe reduce the drain slightly so that Rex could wake up as it was no fun taunting an unconscious victim.

Finally the day of the escape dawned, Rex and Circe were on edge all morning sniping at each other as they waited anxiously for the alarm that would indicate the hoped for diversion had started.

"Are you sure Six got your message?" Rex asked for the umpteenth time.

"NO" shouted Circe in response and it was a toss up which of them looked more shocked at her outburst.

Leaning her head against his chest Circe clung to him for a few minutes and Rex had never wished so much that his hands were free so that he could wrap his arms around her and hold her tightly.

Eventually she managed to regain control of her emotions and stepped back.

"I don't know that he got my message, I can only hope that the women I gave it to were able to get it to Noah at Providence and he took it seriously and passed it to Agent Six."

"Why did you send it to Noah, why not send it straight to Six." Rex asked in confusion.

Circe settled back on her stool to explain her reasoning, "Agent Six is a well known figure, he probably gets massive amounts of mail from crackpots every day. I thought that with Noah being out of the public eye a message sent to him was more likely to be taken seriously." She stopped anxious to hear what Rex had to say, as an outsider to the politics of Providence she prayed that she hadn't misread the dynamics within the organisation.

"But Noah isn't at Providence!" Rex snapped.

"What!" it had never occurred to Circe that Noah wouldn't be at Providence and able to get the message to Six easily. "Where is he?" She asked.

"He's away at University, he comes back for holidays but he doesn't live at Providence full time anymore." Rex fell silent considering the possibilities, it might still work out, "his mail gets forwarded to him regularly, if the letter got to HQ the day after you sent it then it should have reached Noah yesterday, he would have called Six straight away, he's one of the few people who's calls Six will always accept."

Looking up he saw the dejected expression on Circe's face and once more he yearned to have his arms free to hold her and soothe away her fears. "Don't worry, I'm sure Six got the message in time."

"I can see your reasoning" Rex tried to reassure Circe "Six gets enough fan mail to sink a battleship, hell he regularly gets a dozen marriage proposals a week," Rex paused furtively before continuing, "I snuck a peek once, he even had one from a man!" He sounded shocked at the idea.

"I'm not surprised he's not bad looking, for an old guy." Circe did not mirror Rex's shock, she had led a much less sheltered life than her friend.

"But Circe, a MAN!" Rex tried to impress upon her the weirdness of the idea but she wasn't biting.

"There's nothing wrong with that Rex, some men are attracted to women, some to men and some are just attracted to the person regardless of the packaging, women are the same." Deciding to have a little fun Circe revealed a juicy tidbit guaranteed to blow Rex's mind, "how do you think Biowolf and Skalamander scratch that itch all the way out here?" She asked slyly.

Rex's jaw dropped and he just spluttered for a few minutes before he could once again form intelligible speech. "But... What...Urggh!" The last was said with a shudder that wracked the young EVO's entire body. "Tell me you're joking," he begged.

"No, I accidentally walked in on them once," Circe gave a full body shudder of her own, "not a pretty sight I can tell you."

"But then, What about Van Kleiss?" asked Rex suddenly intrigued by the possibilities.

Circe looked uncomfortable but luckily a commotion outside the door distracted Rex before he had time to notice her unease and he slumped in his bonds as Biowolf burst through the door.

"Providence is up to something, we're going to check it out, you hold the fort here." He commanded and just as quickly as he'd arrived he was gone leaving a stunned Circe behind. Her message had gotten through, the plan was working, they were going to get out of here.

She looked across to see Rex's eyes dancing with joy, "You did it." Was all he needed to say.

Whirling to the monitors Circe pulled up a view of the loading dock and they watched breathlessly as Van Kleiss, Biowolf, Skalamander and Breach all piled into one of the cruisers and took off headed for whatever diversion Six had been able to arrange. As soon as the cruiser left the landing pad Circe ran to the drain controls and slammed them into reverse, setting them up to pump nanites into Rex as quickly as possible instead of steadily draining them away as they had been doing.

Rex's body sprang taut arching out from the upright table he had been strapped to for the last nine days, the tension singing through his sinews as the continual nanite drain which his body had begun to adjust to became a sudden influx of new nanites and his strength soared.

Circe hovered anxiously her hand splayed over the button to shut off the nanite flow if she felt that Rex was in danger. She was about to press the button when Rex slumped and gleaming eyes opened and Circe felt her breath caught in her chest at the unrelenting ecstasy in those glowing brown eyes.

"God that feels good." Rex spoke and broke the spell that had held Circe motionless, she rushed forward and started undoing the straps holding him suspended. As he stepped down and his legs held his weight for the first time in over a week he staggered slightly. Circe helped support him until she felt him standing firm, then telling him to stand still she started fumbling with something behind him.

Twisting awkwardly Rex peered over his shoulder to where he could feel something tugging at the small of his back, looking down he saw Circe gently pulling at a tube which was fed through a hole in the table and attached at the base of his spine. Realising that this was the drain that had caused him so much pain and anguish since his capture his first impulse was to grab for the tube and rip it from his body. Seeing his action Circe slapped his hand away, "leave it, the more nanites we can pump back into you before we have to disconnect it the better."

Rex wasn't happy about the idea but saw the wisdom of her words and turned his attention to scanning the lab hoping that he would not have to escape in the flimsy hospital robe he was wearing as it was becoming rather bedraggled after all this time.

As if reading his mind Circe, having pulled through sufficient tubing to give Rex some freedom of movement, moved away to a closet which had been hidden out of his line of sight, opening the door she retrieved his trademark red and orange jacket and black trousers. Practically snatching them out of her hands he started to pull on his own clothes and immediately felt his self-confidence rise as he threw aside the hated robe.

Finally ready to leave Circe shut down the console and disconnected the drain tube from Rex's back. Free of the machine at last he grabbed up Circe enfolding her into a massive hug as he swung her around in the centre of the room in sheer joy.

Laughing lightly she pushed at his shoulders to free herself and he set her back upon her feet. "Come on, we need to move."

Instantly the levity fell away and Rex moved to follow Circe out of the room. Moving carefully they negotiated the labyrinth of corridors until suddenly they passed through a large door and out into the twisted garden filled with petrified statues of EVO's drained by Van Kleiss in his unending quest to maintain his own life. Wending their way through the undergrowth they made their way to the outer edge of the garden where at her request Rex hoisted Circe quickly to the top of retaining wall. Leaping up he grasped her outstretched hand and pulled himself up beside her. Grinning at each other they felt that they were almost home free and they jumped down the other side of the wall and took off running through the wasteland that was Abysus.

Cresting a rise in the ground they saw the welcome sight of Agent Six as he stood at the open loading door of his ship beckoning them onwards. Rex felt a thrill of happiness at seeing his mentor ahead ready to whisk them away to safety. Suddenly Six began to shout at them to run, the look on his face and his gestures turned frantic and glancing over his shoulder Rex saw the reason, Van Kleiss and his henchmen must have turned back for some reason and they were hovering in their transport behind the fleeing EVO's. Rex grabbed Circe's hand and put on a burst of speed, he thought they were going to make it when he heard a gasp from Circe as she wrenched free of his grasp and fell in behind him giving him a powerful shove that carried him the last few feet into the ship. He felt her crash into him and as the ship lifted off, door closing behind them he turned to embrace her in celebration of their escape.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four - Grief

Something was wrong, as his arms encircled her he encountered a crystalline protrusion jutting out between her shoulder blades, leaning back to study her face in confusion he met glazed and empty eyes, he sprang back in horror letting the lifeless body of the woman he had once hoped to call his girlfriend fall limply to the floor.

Looking across the hold he met the saddened gaze of Six, "help her" he pleaded with the green clad man who had never failed him before.

Six could only shake his head, "I'm so sorry Rex."

Feeling warm dampness on his hands Rex looked down to see them glistening redly in the dim light of the ship's hold. Something within Rex's mind snapped, after the emotional turmoil of the last nine days this was the last straw, Rex screamed and screamed, he sank to the floor oblivious to the strong arms of Six holding him, he screamed until unable to catch a breath he slipped gently into the welcoming blackness of unconsciousness.

Waking slowly Rex at first simply enjoyed the feeling of freedom in his limbs after being restrained in so unnatural a position for such a long time. Soon however his brain drifted back to the disastrous escape attempt and all he could see was Circe's lifeless body, empty eyes staring up at him. Anything had to be better than that vision of cold deadness and so he opened his own eyes and looked around him. He found himself in the medical ward at the Keep, Doctor Holiday was standing with her back to him as she checked out the readings on some piece of medical equipment whereas Six stood at the foot of the bed watching him evaluate his surroundings.

"Doctor" Six called softly his eyes never leaving Rex's face. At least so it appeared to Rex, Six was wearing his customary dark glasses so he only had the movement of his head to go on.

Turning at the low call Doctor Holiday stepped briskly over to the bed and saw that her patient was awake. "How are you feeling Rex?" she asked softly wary of her patient's fragile emotional state.

Rex simply turned his head away refusing to speak. Doctor Holiday laid a comforting hand on his arm but he shook her off and curled himself into a ball hiding away from the outside world.

Understanding his need for solitude Doctor Holiday twitched the blankets up to securely cover the pitifully small figure huddled in the bed. "It's alright Rex, you don't have to speak to me now, rest."

Rex just lay there listening to the motion going on around him, he desperately wanted to retreat once more into sleep but it seemed that after a week and a half of little else his body was finally slept out and that refuge was denied him. He heard the scrape of a chair being pulled up in front of him and the creak of someone sitting down but still he refused to open his eyes to see who it was. He was fairly certain he didn't need to look anyway, it was almost undoubtedly Six and he waited for his babysitter to try to draw him out, but the person didn't speak and they just sat there together in silence.

Eventually Rex dozed a little and when he awoke he felt sure that the person sitting before him must have given up and moved away. Opening his eyes however he realised that he had not done Six's patience justice. His mentor was still sat in the uncomfortable hospital chair facing him, waiting until he was ready to speak.

Seeing the stoic man nod to someone over his head Rex uncurled and turned to find Doctor Holiday waiting behind him. "Rex I know you're not ready to speak yet but I need to know what happened to you. You're recovering well, your nanite count was extremely low when you were brought in but it's coming up nicely, you were also malnourished and dehydrated, we have drips set up to counter those issues. There is really no need for you to stay here and I would be perfectly happy for you to return to your own quarters under Bobo's care. But, before I can allow that I need you to tell me what happened, I need to know that you will follow instruction, that you will eat and drink and do your best to get well."

Rex simply closed his eyes, turned back towards Six beginning to curl back into his ball until his movements were arrested by the taciturn man's words. "Rex, I'm so sorry for your loss, I know you wish it had been you who died but I saw everything that happened and I have to tell you that this is no way to honour Circe's sacrifice."

Rex's eyes sprang open at these words and he opened his mouth to speak. At first he could only produce a hoarse croak but Six fed a few ice chips into his mouth and after giving them a chance to melt so that the ice water could ease his abused throat he tried again. "Tell me what you saw" he commanded.

"I saw you both running over the crest of a hill, you were about 30 yards from the ship when Van Kleiss's cruiser crested the hill behind you, the loading bay door was open and Van Kleiss and Skalamander stood in the opening. I saw Van Kleiss pointing towards you and shouting something at Skalamander who prepared to throw his crystal projectiles. Circe looked back over her shoulder and saw the same thing, she pulled free of your hand and dropped in behind you giving you a hard shove as she ran. Skalamander fired and she was hit in the back pushing her through the doors of the ship where she landed on you. The projectile sliced through her spine, she was dead before she fell." Six was silent allowing Rex time to digest his words.

Rex closed his eyes and Six and Holiday thought that he was retreating once again. Then he started to speak softly, almost as if he were talking to himself. "I was talking to Six after curing the mammoth EVO, then I felt arms grabbing me from behind and pulling, something jabbed me in the neck and I felt myself go into overload before I blacked out." Rex went on to describe all that he remembered of his captivity right up to the point were they climbed the garden wall during the ill-fated escape. Finally the stress of reliving it all overtook him and he started to sob uncontrollably. He felt warm arms pull him up from the bed and enclose him in a strong hug and, too distraught to fight anymore he collapsed into the embrace and sobbed out his heartbreak.

Eventually the tears subsided but Six stayed perched on the edge of the bed, cradling the sleeping form of his charge in his arms. Twenty minutes later Rex awoke, he realised that whoever had held him while he cried was still holding him now while he slept. He assumed it must have been Holiday but something didn't feel right. Opening his eyes he found his face crushed against the lapel of a familiar green suit. Six had held him, why would he do that? Rex asked himself in confusion.

Extricating himself from the embrace Rex sat up and wiped his eyes while staring solidly at the blankets in front of him, too embarrassed to risk meeting Six's eyes. Suddenly a box of tissues was thrust under his nose and he gratefully plucked out a handful to blow his nose and clean up his face. Glancing towards Six he mumbled an apology gesturing vaguely towards the large damp patch on the breast of the suit.

Six brushed off the apology before shifting to stand next to the bed, "shall we get you back to your own quarters?" he asked.

Rex breathed a grateful "please" and started to climb from the bed, only then realising that he was once more dressed in a draughty hospital gown.

Seeing his dilemma Six shoved a pile of clothes into his arms and pulled the curtains around to give him a measure of privacy. Rex muttered a brief thank you and hastened to dress himself once again in his own clothes.

A few short minutes later saw Rex stepping out from behind the privacy curtains, he looked around quickly to locate Six and found him a few steps away speaking in a low voice to the Doctor. Seeing Rex appear Six thanked Holiday briefly and gestured the young EVO towards the door, "let's get you out of here."

The two walked in silence through the corridors back to Rex's quarters, outside the door of his room Six clasped the handle but did not open the door. Looking at him Rex could almost think that the older man was nervous but that couldn't be right, could it?

Reaching into his inside jacket pocket Six pulled out an envelope and stared at it for a few moments. Rex rested his hand gently on Six's arm, stilling the hands that were fidgeting restlessly with the envelope. "Six, what is it?" he asked.

Seeming to give himself a quick shake Six looked into Rex's eyes, "When Circe contacted me with her plans for your escape," he paused, anxious at Rex's possible reaction to hearing the dead EVO's name. Reassured that Rex wasn't reacting badly he carried on "she included a letter for you."

Now Rex looked confused "why would she do that? I was right there with her if there was something she needed to say to me."

"This was to be given to you if..." Six paused once again, "if something happened to her during the escape." He finished in a rush and pushed the letter into Rex's hands.

Rex looked down at the stiff envelope in his hands as if he expected it to bite him. His first impulse was to shove it back at the man in front of him but then he realised that this was the final communication he could ever receive from Circe and he clutched the letter tightly to his chest.

Six turned the handle and pushed the door open for him, stepping quickly aside to allow Rex to enter unhindered.

Rex stepped forward in a daze then snapped around as he heard the door close behind him. Turning slowly back to survey the room he found himself expecting the room to look different, it felt like forever since he had been in this room, but nothing had changed since he last saw it, he struggled to recall that in truth it had only been nine days. Nine days that had changed his life so dramatically.

Treading carefully across the room Rex sat gingerly on the edge of his bed. Clutching the letter tightly to him he lay back on top of the covers. Lying there he thought of what was represented by the pages he held he felt the grief bubbling up inside of him until he could contain it no longer and rolling onto his side he curled up around the envelope and howled out his grief as wracking sobs shook his entire body.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five - Revelation

Six stood outside Rex's door, the sounds of anguish from within tearing him apart. As he moved to go in a hand stopped him. "Let me" came the gruff voice of Bobo. Nodding once Six turned sharply on his heel and strode away. Afterwards Six had no knowledge of how long he spent roaming to corridors of the Providence HQ until he found himself back in the medical ward.

Doctor Holiday looked up from her work to find him standing in the middle of the floor looking lost. It was a look she would never have expected to see on the strong warrior before her and she felt the strong need to take care of him, to get him out of the public eye. Standing and catching his eye she directed him to her personal office telling him she would be there shortly. It wasn't the perfect solution but would have to do for now, at least he was somewhere private where he could breakdown and then build himself back up again in peace if that was what needed to happen.

Finishing up what she was working on Holiday crossed the lab to her office and stepped inside closing the door firmly behind her. She didn't use the office often preferring to be more accessible but her staff knew that if the office door was shut then she was not to be disturbed.

In the room she found Six sat with his elbows propped up on her desk, his head sunk into his hands. Pulling up the visitor chair she took a seat across from him and waited for him to acknowledge her presence.

Eventually he raised his head and looked at her through the ever-present dark glasses. "I'm going to hand in my resignation, it'll be in White Knight's hand by the end of the day."

They were the last words she had ever expected to hear from this man. "Why?" she asked in shock.

"I failed him, I had one job, to keep him safe and I failed." Anger overtook him now and he slammed his hands down on the desktop daring her to contradict him.

"Who? White Knight? I don't understand." Holiday was confused, failing to see how Six had possibly failed their enigmatic leader.

"No, Rex! I failed him, you should have seen his eyes when he realised she was dead. He was practically begging me to save her and there was nothing I could do."

"She was dead, he understands that, and as for failing him, you have protected and guided him for ten years, for the last five years of that time he has been working out in the field fighting EVO's and saving lives. In that time there have been some close calls but I doubt you would get anyone, especially not Rex to agree that you have ever failed him." Holiday leaned forward earnestly, trying to reach Six, to help him believe he was not a failure. She didn't know what would happen to Rex without Six there to pick up the pieces, and given her preference she would never have to find out.

"I'm a monster, a pervert, once Rex finds out he won't want me on the same continent as him let alone working together on a daily basis."

Holiday almost laughed at the idea of Six as a monster but she could tell by the distraught tone of his voice and the look of absolute anguish on his face that he believed every word and the urge to laugh was gone as quickly as it had come. "What makes you say that, you're not a monster and I doubt you have a perverted bone in your body, what could you possibly think that you have done to make Rex hate you that badly?"

Six stared at his hands "I love him."

If Six expected Holiday to recoil from him at his admission he was to be sadly disappointed, in fact the Doctor smiled. "Is that all?" she asked.

"Isn't it enough?" Six hung his head in misery, "he's nothing but a child."

"Six, you may not have noticed this but Rex is not a child, not anymore, he was what? 10 when you first brought him here, he's twenty now. He's grown up into a fine young man and has more than earned the right to be seen as an adult." Her tone now was scolding as she tried to pull Six out of his depression.

"But don't you see, I first met him as a ten year old, I've watched him grow up, I've been practically the only father figure he's ever known. What kind of father has those feelings for his son?"

"And if you were his father I would agree with you whole heartedly, hell I'd even lead the pitchfork brigade and have you run out of town, but you're NOT." Holiday placed a heavy emphasis on the last word anxious to get her point across. "You've been there for him ever since he arrived at Providence, you've been his teacher, his mentor and now you're his partner and his friend. If you want to see how he feels about taking the relationship further then I say go for it, what's the worst that can happen?"

"Exactly, I'm his teacher, I've abused my position, I have to leave now before I do something to really hurt Rex."

"Six!" Holiday was beginning to sound exasperated with the stubborn man, "you're not listening to what I'm saying, you WERE his teacher, you aren't now. Do you want to know the worst way you could hurt him?"

"By staying, by approaching him so he feels pressured into accepting my advances." Six stated determinedly.

"No, by leaving him, especially now! You're his best friend, you have been for years, he's just been through a horrendous ordeal and he needs his friends, if you run out on him now it will crush him, he'll blame himself, you know he will." Holiday brought forth her strongest argument yet and it was clear from the way Six's eyes flashed to her face that she had finally gotten through to him. Swiftly she pressed her advantage, "is that what you want, to punish him for some reason, that's what he's going to think you know. That you're punishing him for getting himself captured and for getting Circe killed."

"No!" Six shouted, slamming his hands down on the table and Holiday was pleased to see the fighter she knew replacing the defeated man she had been facing only moments ago. "How could you even suggest something like that, Rex has done nothing wrong, Van Kleiss had a well orchestrated plan which he implemented flawlessly, he blindsided us, no-one is to blame. And Circe's death was unfortunate but she chose to put herself between Skalamander and Rex, he tried to get them both out alive" he paused "and he damn near succeeded."

They sat in silence for a while as Six contemplated Holiday's words.

"You think I might have a chance?" he finally asked.

"I think you will never know unless you ask him" was the straight forward reply.

Just then the door crashed open and Bobo charged in "Six you have to come now, it's Rex, he's smashing up the place" the chimpanzee panted out the words, as much from agitation as from the effort of running to find the agent.

Six sprang to his feet, "what happened?"

"I don't know, Rex wanted to be alone so I was just hanging out in my hammock, then he sat up and read that letter he was clutching and he just went ape-shit, if' you'll pardon my language" he nodded towards Doctor Holiday "he screwed up the letter and just started throwing anything he could lay his hands on. I got out of there fast and came to find you"

"OK, stay with the Doctor" Six hurried out of the room and back to the quarters Rex shared with Bobo. Listening outside the door for a moment when he arrived Six could not hear any commotion from within and he gingerly opened the door, sidling inside and easing the door closed behind him.

Standing just inside the door he scanned the room noting that Rex had at least refrained from conjuring his nanite machines so that the damage was thankfully limited to a few broken appliances and some smashed crockery. Spotting Rex huddled against the edge of his bed it appeared he had tried to sit on the edge and missed, moving carefully across the wreckage strewn floor Six dropped down to sit beside his friend nudging shoulders with Rex "if you wanted a change of decor you only had to ask" he joked hoping to lessen the intense mood.

Rex gave a watery laugh in response before suddenly giving in to a brief burst of tears. Angrily dashing the tears away from his eyes Rex snarled "I hate this, why can't I stop crying?"

Six thought quietly for a moment, "Rex, you have to understand, you have been starved and abused both mentally and physically for the last nine days. Your body is recovering well thanks to your nanites but your mind is still struggling to come to terms with what happened to you. Add to that the fact that you were able to spend time getting to know the girl you've loved but haven't been able to be with, only to find when you thought you had both gotten away you were suddenly embracing her dead body. It's no wonder your mind is messed up but it will get better, over time you will get your head on straight again. I promise." gesturing at the destruction around them he asked "do you want to tell me what set this off?"

Rex just shoved the letter at him and Six began to read.

Rex,

If you are reading this letter then something went wrong with the escape and I am dead. Please believe me when I tell you that I'm really sorry to have left you and I hope that some day you will be able to forgive me.

I know it's probably a strange thing to say but I've really enjoyed getting to know you properly over the last nine days, I'm only sorry that it was in such bad circumstances.

I know that you truly believe that you love me, and I believe that had I lived and we'd been able to get away from Van Kleiss then I could have grown to love you too. Unfortunately things didn't turn out that way and I need you to make me a promise, consider it my dying wish if you will.

Don't make what we had into something it wasn't, we had a good time in Cabo Luna and I really enjoyed spending time with you during the brief meetings we were able to steal over the years. Talking to you over these last few days, listening to the stories you had to tell about life within Providence has shown me what could have been if I had had the courage to choose a different path in life when we first met. BUT ours was not a great romance, I am not Buttercup and you are not Wesley, I am not your one true love, don't build it up into this fantastic tale of star-crossed lovers, don't let it overshadow the rest of your life.

I've listened to all the stories that you've told me recently and there is one thing that I've noticed, all your stories seem to revolve around one person. There's this amazing look in your eyes every time you talk about him, it's almost like you glow from within whenever you think of him. Please don't dismiss what I'm saying, really think about it, because I think that if you can break free of the ultra conservative mindset that you've fallen into. And who wouldn't after being raised within the walls of an ultra conservative para-military organisation like Providence. Then I think you may find that your attraction to me was only masking much deeper feelings for someone you may truly love and who may truly love you.

That's all I have time to write now, thank you for trying to save me, I'm sorry I failed you.

Circe.

As Six finished reading he had to fight hard against the anger that boiled up inside him, the urge to crumple the letter up into a small ball and throw it into the debris that already littered the room was almost overpowering. But he restrained himself, Rex would surely want to keep it as his last communication from Circe and it was not Six's place to destroy it. However if he ever found out who Circe had been talking about, a sudden thought struck him and his head snapped up to stare at the wall opposite, almost as if he could see through it to the corridors beyond. Callan, if that worm had so much as touched Rex he'd... he'd have him transferred to Paradise base. So what if it had been destroyed five years ago, he'd think of a reason.

A hand roughly shaking his arm pulled him from his plans to dispose of any possible rivals for Rex's affections and he realised that the boy had been trying to get his attention for some time. Sorry, not boy, he recalled his earlier conversation with Doctor Holiday and looked closely at the face in front of him. It was the face of a young adult, fully grown and ready to make his own decisions and to face the consequences of those decisions.

Rex breathed a sigh of relief as Six finally focussed on him before carefully folding and returning the letter.

"Is she right?" Six could not prevent himself from asking the question.

"Yes, I think she was, I think that was what made me so angry."

Six closed his eyes, briefly indulging in visions of the retribution he would exact from the hide of the one who dared to steal Rex from under his nose. Shaking off those dreams Six realised that he would never carry any of them to completion, Rex was his partner, his friend, and if he had left it too late for them to be anything more then that was his cross to bear, he'd support his partner all the way.

"Then congratulations, I hope you'll be very happy." Every word felt like it was tearing great holes in his flesh as he tried to smile through the pain.

"Thank you, I think I might be, it'll depend of course." His words trailed off.

"Depend on what?" Six asked confused.

"On you."

"On me!" Six was mystified until the realisation hit him, Rex wanted him to stand aside as his partner, to allow his new love to take that role. The pain escalated, hands were reaching in to tear out his organs through the gaping rips in his body, there went the heart, the liver, something was tugging on his lungs. He needed to speak fast while he still had breath to do so. "Of course, if you need me to stand aside I'll..." Six was brought up short as Rex interrupted him.

"Stand aside? Six you don't understand. I told her everything whilst I was held captive, I had nothing to do but talk. I told her about every mission we'd ever been on together. I told her about every time you read my mind, saved my life, covered for me when I screwed up. I told her about your katanas, about every move I've seen you make with them, how they seem like an extension of your body, how you can turn the tide of an entire battle. I told her about the tanto you gave me on my sixteenth birthday and how you keep the brother knife. I told her everything. I told her about you!"

Breath slammed back into Six's body, his organs were suddenly back and he thought his heart might just burst, the great, jagged tears through his flesh healed up and he felt complete at last.

Rex watched his mentor with some concern, he'd just made a declaration of love and Six had frozen. He was hit with the overwhelming desire for the floor to open up and swallow him, it was obvious, Six did not feel the same way about him and was trying to find the right words to let him down gently. Rex stuttered into speech "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said anything, of course you don't feel the same way, so stupid! You've probably got someone on the outside haven't you, or..." a sudden thought hit Rex and he was stunned by how obvious it was, "it's Doctor Holiday isn't it. Please don't tell her what I said, I promise I'll behave, you'll never be embarrassed by my advances again."

Rex stopped dead as he felt a gentle hand curl under his chin and tip his face up, forcing him to meet laughing eyes dimly seen through dark glasses. Slowly those eyes were getting closer, tipping slightly to the side and just as Rex was about to go cross-eyed soft lips met his in a chaste kiss and his eyes slipped closed in bliss.

All too soon Six pulled back searching Rex's face for any sign of unease but all he saw was a blissed out expression giving way to a slight frown as the young EVO realised that those lips were not coming back and finally his eyes fluttered open and a shy smile graced those delicious lips.

"Better?" Six asked the question softly, not wanting to ruin the mood.

"Sorry." Rex apologised again but a slight nod of his head was all the confirmation Six needed.

Rex leaned in to initiate another kiss but was stopped by a firm hand on his chest. "We can't do that again" Six stated in response to the questioning look in the beautiful brown eyes in front of him.

"Why not?" All of Rex's confusion was conveyed in his voice as he spoke those two words.

"Not for a little while anyway." Six qualified his words. "Just hear me out" he stifled Rex's objections before they could be voiced. "I won't take advantage of you, it may not have been true love, but there was something very real between you and Circe, she hasn't even been dead for two days yet, you need to take time to grieve for her, and to be sure that what you feel for me is real and not just some type of rebound affection." Rex tried to speak, to refute Six's words but was stopped by a calloused finger across his lips, "Please let me finish, I want to be with you, but I want to be more than just someone to comfort you for a brief time. You're quite a few years younger than me and so I'll understand if you can't commit to me now, I'm prepared to wait for you, to know that you are sure." Six finished speaking and removed his finger from Rex's mouth signifying Rex's turn to talk.

"Six, I'm sure now, I know you think of me as a child but I'm not, I don't think I ever was a child, not really. We've wasted so much time already, I don't want to waste any more."

"I promise you Rex, I do not think of you as a child, if I did we wouldn't be having this conversation and I would never have kissed you." Six saw the hopeful look spring up in Rex's eyes and hated to have to quench it but he knew that what they had could be great and it was worth waiting to make sure it was right. "Give me one week. Give yourself one week to mourn her. If you still feel the same way in that time then we will take it from there."

Rex wanted to scream at the thought of waiting a week for another one of Six's kisses but he could understand why the older man wanted to take things slowly so he agreed. "One week Six, but I will not change my mind not in a week, or a year, or a lifetime."

"Thank you Rex, do you need some help cleaning up in here?" Six stood brushing himself off and gestured to the destruction around them.

"Nah, I'm good." Rex stood too and looked around deciding on the best place to start clearing the debris.

"OK, I'll see you in a week."

"One week Six" came Rex's distracted reply and Six left the room quietly hoping that he hadn't just made the biggest mistake of his life.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six - Waiting

Rex spent the rest of the day clearing up the mess he'd made of his quarters. He was very grateful when Bobo returned and wordlessly began to help him. Between the pair of them they had the worst of the rubble cleared away in time for dinner. As they headed out to eat Rex looked forward to seeing Six in the mess hall. To his surprise he couldn't to see the taciturn man as he settled down with his tray of food but simply attributed it to the late hour, after all it had been a little later than usual by the time he'd finished tidying up.

The next morning after a restless night Rex strode jauntily into the mess hall for breakfast. Looking around he saw a sea of white uniforms but no green suit. Wondering what was going on he sat down to eat his meal in silence while pondering Six's absence. It was then that he remembered the tall man's parting words, 'I'll see you in a week.' He'd not been paying attention, too busy thinking about the task in front of him to make his rooms liveable once more. At the time he'd thought that Six had simply meant that they would carry on as before for his one week, not speaking of their burgeoning relationship until the week was up. Now however he realised that he might have misunderstood and he wracked his brains as to how he could ask where his mentor was without giving anything away.

Thinking about it he came to the conclusion that it would actually be more unnatural for him not to ask about the missing man than to actually ask the question straight out. With that in mind he headed up to the keep after he'd finished eating and tracked down Doctor Holiday in the medical ward. "Hey Doc, have you seen Six today?" he asked, hoping that he was not broadcasting any untoward concern at being unable to find his mentor.

"Not today Rex, but he popped in last night to say goodbye, he said something about taking a team to Purgatory base to make sure everything was in order. He was planning to spend 5-6 days there I think, run a few drills, why is there a problem?" The concern was evident in her voice and Rex hastened to reassure her.

"No, no problem, I just wondered where he'd got to when I didn't see him at breakfast. Guess he's sloped off to top up his tan." He tried to cover his concern at knowing how far away Six had gone and turned to leave.

"Rex, you know Six wouldn't do something like that, although if I thought he'd take any notice I'd be inclined to prescribe a week of R&R in the sun. I don't know how he kept going these last few weeks, I do know he blamed himself when you were captured. He never stopped the whole time you were missing, running missions and trying to figure out where Van Kleiss would have taken you and how to get you back."

Rex ducked his head, understanding how ungrateful he had sounded and hurried away to find something to fill his time for the next week.

Three hours later he felt a guilty pleasure fill him as the klaxon sounded pulling him away from the book he'd been unsuccessfully trying to read. An EVO attack meant that civilians and Providence soldiers might die today, and at least one person was definitely having the worst day of their life, but at least he would have something to do! Only then did he realise that he would be going into battle without Six at his side. It had happened before but this time he knew that the green clad warrior would not be riding to the rescue like the cavalry of old and he felt a little daunted.

Shaking off the dark cloud that settled over his mind at that thought he grabbed up his jacket and rushed out to the muster point, ready to go out and do his job.

Once he was on the cruiser and heading out to the incident site Rex sat and studied the rest of the team, there were a couple of rookies that he had not seen before but most of them were seasoned Providence soldiers. Rex had worked with them numerous times in the past, there was no reason for the lead weight that seemed to have settled itself in his gut, but it was there nonetheless. Rex tried to shrug off the feeling of ominous dread, it was understandable after all, the last time he went on a mission he ended up captured, strapped to a table, drained of the majority of his nanites, taunted, humiliated and hosed down with ice cold water daily for over a week before Circe paid the ultimate price for his freedom.

The dark cloud was trying to return but Rex wrenched his mind away from such thoughts and turned inwards to assess his readiness for the task ahead. Over the years that he had been working in the field and especially since the discovery of the control nanite he had grown much more adept at understanding and assessing his own condition. Now he felt strong, his nanite count was good, fully recovered from the drain that Van Kleiss had had him hooked up to, but not too high that he might risk overload. He knew that Doctor Holiday was not thrilled about him going back into the field so soon after his rescue but he needed to take back control of his life and as Six had supported him the good doctor had backed down gracefully.

Rex pulled out of his musings as he felt the cruiser head down to land, getting up he moved to stand at the door, ready to burst into action. They landed in a rundown warehouse district, Rex exited the vehicle and scanned the area as the Providence soldiers fanned out around him. Captain Callan took point, leading the team to an abandoned building. They waited outside a padlocked side door as he briefed them on the mission.

"We have multiple animal EVO's inside this building, they are relatively small, approximately eighteen inches tall and spider-like, that's all the information that we have at present. Any questions?"

"Kill or cure?" Rex asked in response.

"Primary objective is to kill, there appears to be a large nest of these creatures inside and we need to clear them all out, if we can capture one without risk for the Doc to study then we'll do that, but I cannot stress enough, only if we can do that without jeopardising our primary task.

Looking around Captain Callan met the eyes of each of the members of his team and only saw determination in each gaze. Finally he locked eyes briefly with Rex and saw none of the anxiety that the young EVO had shown on the journey, just eagerness to begin. Nodding once to the young soldier with the bolt cutters he stood back and allowed the padlock to be removed before pushing open the door and leading his team inside.

Judging from the looks of the building Rex felt sure that there would be no civilians inside who would need protection. Given that fact and that it was a kill not a cure mission Rex was happy to stay with the group as they moved quietly through the deserted building. Much of the interior had been stripped when the previous tenants had moved out but there were still several pieces of heavy machinery remaining. Huge, dust covered hulks looming ominously in the dim light reaching them through the dirty skylights. At first it was silent but then Rex began to hear small skittering sounds from up in the rafters and from the shadows beneath the abandoned machinery.

Looking around the team Rex saw that one of the young rookies seemed to be spooked by the noises around them and Rex caught his eye before flashing him a reassuring grin. The young soldier squared his shoulders and ducked his head in a quick nod before returning to his task of scanning the shadows for EVO activity.

As they entered an open space Rex got his first glimpse of the EVO's they were facing, scuttling into hiding amongst a pile of broken down boxes he saw it, bone white with an almost crystalline, faceted sharpness to the lines and angles of it's body and legs. The body was diamond shaped with four legs on each side, the legs were quite wide at the body, narrowing steadily to half their original width at the knee where they angled inwards once again and continued narrowing to a point as they reached the floor. Rex almost thought that it resembled a small occasional table until another of the creatures appeared around a corner and he saw the malevolent red eyes staring at him from what must be the creatures face. Then the whole underside of the body dropped open as if hinged at the rear and a warning hiss issued from the beast as Rex realised that it was nothing but a large mouth on legs.

The hiss appeared to have been some kind of rallying cry and the creatures appeared all around the small group of Providence soldiers and Rex quickly found himself in the thick of battle, fighting for his life as the hoard of spindly, white spiders threatened to overwhelm them with sheer numbers. Summoning the BFS Rex laid into the swarm around him, scything off the legs of the creatures, leaving their helpless bodies to be dealt with once the outbreak had been brought under control. Almost too late Rex realised that while the majority of the creatures occupied the Providence forces at ground level, a number of them were amassing in the rafters above the unsuspecting soldier's heads.

Retracting the BFS Rex called forth the boogie pack and firing up his engines he soared up to face the hoards preparing to drop upon the soldiers from above. Reaching their level he carefully angled his jets so that the exhaust blasted the EVO's from their precarious footing on the rafters causing them to fly several yards before smashing at high speed into the bulk of the rusted machinery below where they lay, broken and lifeless like a child's abandoned game of jack straws.

Lowering himself back down to rejoin the battle below he found the soldiers moping up the last few remaining spider creatures and they were soon on the way back to the keep with one of the beasts safely caged for Doctor Holiday to continue her experiments into the possibility of a long term cure for the nanite problem.

Lying back in his bed that night Rex realised that he had survived one day without Six. One down, Six to go. He chuckled to himself at the play on words, he didn't want Six to go, he wanted him to come back as soon as possible. He drifted off to sleep with visions of his green clad love, dark eyes behind dark glasses swam through his dreams, longed for but always just out of reach.

The next day passed quietly, far too quietly for Rex and by mid-morning he was pacing angrily back and forth across his room. Six might think that he was too young to know his own mind but Rex had no doubt where his future lay. The only thing in his way was his stubborn lover as Six stayed away to give Rex space, space he neither wanted nor needed.

Deciding he needed to find a way to burn off this restless energy before he ended up trashing his room twice in one week Rex headed down to the training levels. Hearing pounding feet and the thud of a ball bouncing regularly he thought he might be in luck and he pushed open the door of the gymnasium. Inside he found the young rookie soldier from the previous day dribbling a basketball up the court before taking the shot from the three-point line.

In the momentary silence as the ball flew through the air the young man heard the footsteps behind him and spun around to see Rex standing by the door, missing the ball as it dropped neatly through the basket. "Nice shot" Rex commented.

"Thank you Sir" the rookie responded, seemingly awestruck at finding himself one on one with half of Providence's leading team in the battle against the EVO menace.

Rex looked around himself before realising that the soldier was calling him 'sir'. "My name is Rex, you really don't need to call me Sir."

"Thank you Sir...Rex" the young man stumbled over the name, "I'm Ivan."

"Hi Ivan, may I join you?" Rex asked, a little one on one basketball might be just what he needed to take his mind off of Six's absence.

"Of course Si...Rex" and he threw the ball to Rex. Ivan was nervous at first, fighting alongside the legendary EVO was nerve-wracking enough, but it was what he'd trained for. But having his hero ask to join him on the basketball court was beyond his wildest dreams. Although he would never admit it out loud Ivan was nurturing a major crush on Rex. He'd spent the last few years watching Rex on news reports as he fought and cured EVO after EVO, keeping the world safe for normal humans.

He'd joined Providence in the hope that he might one day end up fighting side by side with his hero. Along with the other new recruits Ivan had been rushed through an intensive training course. That was one of the measures introduced by the powers that be to meet the demand caused by the sudden increase in the number and intensity of EVO incidents. He'd been delighted in the final week of training to be told that he'd been assigned to the keep. It had seemed inevitable then that he would meet Rex sooner rather than later. Training had ended and Ivan had been in a euphoric haze as he was herded aboard a troop transport with the other rookies for the trip to the keep.

His world had collapsed when they had landed and been ushered into a large meeting room which he later found out was the canteen. All the rookies who'd come in on the transport with Ivan were there along with all the seasoned soldiers who hadn't been involved in the latest EVO mission. They had been addressed by a weary looking man in a green suit, white shirt, black tie and dark glasses. Ivan had seen the man in news reports, where Rex was this man was never far behind, but he'd never paid much attention to him until now. Now he listened in shocked horror as the man, Agent Six, told how Rex had been taken from the site of the last EVO incident. After that a skeleton crew was kept available for incident control, every other available resource was co-opted into the search for Rex.

Rex meanwhile was thinking about his first friend Noah. There friendship had only barely survived the first few weeks. Rex had been so angry when he found out that Noah had actually been recruited by White Knight to befriend him and help keep him under control. Still, they'd gotten past that and been best friends for the last five years. Rex didn't see much of Noah these days, the blonde human was away at University studying a PhD in electrical engineering. He was on a full scholarship from Providence, part of the deal he'd cut with White Knight all those years ago.

So now Rex really needed a friend to talk to, but his best, well really his only, friend was a thousand miles away and this wasn't the sort of conversation he felt confident having by telephone. He couldn't see himself confiding in Ivan the same was he would Noah if he were available, but still, it would be nice to have another friend, someone to shoot hoops with and blow off a little steam.

They played for over an hour, Rex driving himself hard, needing to burn off the surplus energy that threatened to overwhelm him in Six's absence. Eventually Rex noticed that his opponent was dripping with sweat and struggling for breath and catching the ball he walked over to check on the other young man.

"Are you OK?" he asked, concerned that Ivan had pushed himself too hard in an effort to keep up.

"I'm... fine... that... was... fun" Ivan panted "same time... tomorrow?" he asked as he slowly regained his composure.

Rex laughed briefly, "I'm game if you are."

On the third evening after Six had left Ivan managed to time his arrival into the mess hall for the evening meal just right to find Rex sitting alone over a large tray of food. After collecting his own meal he ignored the other rookies waving to him across the room and headed for Rex's table.

"May I join you?" he asked in an unconscious repeat of Rex's words to him on the basketball court on that first day.

Rex, who had appeared to be deep in thought shook off his air of distraction and waved for him to sit down, They enjoyed a friendly meal and ended up spending the rest of the evening together in lively conversation.

That set the pace for the rest of Six's week, Rex went out on missions when required, sometimes kill, sometimes cure and in between he spent his time training, reading in his room or on the basketball court with Ivan. In the evenings they would share a table in the mess hall and then spend the evening chatting and getting to know one another. Rex still missed Six and longed for his return, but he felt happy to be making a new friend and that helped to pass the time until the end of the week.

It was approaching noon on the seventh day and Rex and Ivan were deep in their daily basketball game when Rex heard a familiar voice call out his name. He dropped the ball and spun on his heel to see a beloved figure standing in the doorway. "Six!"


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: **This is the final chapter of As One Door Closes, and this is where it really earns that M rating. This chapter contains man on man action, if you don't like that, and it's not everybody's cup of tea, then please don't read it.

Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, favourited or alerted this story. It really makes my day to see those numbers clicking up and it makes it worth making the effort to write these things down instead of just keeping them as a pleasant little daydream.

I worked out the basics of this story on the drive down to London this Christmas, it was meant to be a quick one shot of about 5-6 thousand words, it grew some and I still had to leave out some of the ideas I had so maybe there's material there for a sequel, who knows.

Finally a special thank you to everyone who took the time to write a review, especially **Furudanuki**, you write fantastic reviews and pick up on the best bits that I just slid in there and hoped someone would appreciate.

**Update :** I'm re-posting this chapter, I've realized that there are people younger than I'm comfortable with reading my stories here so I've cut out all the more graphic parts, if you're over 18 then you can still read the full chapter at http:/ cartoon. adultfanfiction. net/ story. php? No = 600093075 & chapter = 7 as always remove the spaces to get to the address.

**Chapter Seven - Together**

The tall, green-clad man strode forwards and Rex moved eagerly to meet him. As they reached each other Rex flung his arms around his partner in a brief hug before stepping back and surveying the man he had been eagerly awaiting for the last week.

"You're looking good, Purgatory agrees with you." Rex joked in an attempt to cover up just how happy he was to have Six back.

"Thank you, a bit of sun, sea and sand will do wonders, well two out of three anyway." Six joked back. He'd been a little concerned when he got back to hear that Rex had apparently made a new friend during his absence and had been spending a lot of time with a young soldier. Although he'd left to give Rex some time to decide if this relationship was what he really wanted, his worst nightmare whilst he'd been away was that Rex would indeed find someone else. Still the young EVO had seemed very happy to see him and showed no reluctance to leave the game he'd been involved with as Six arrived.

"Are you going to introduce me?" he asked, nodding towards the young man who had picked up the abandoned ball and was now standing off to one side looking uncomfortable.

""Huh... Oh sorry" Rex spun around to look at Ivan, it was quite obvious to both of the other men in the room that he had completely forgotten his friends existence in the excitement of Six's return. "Ivan this is Agent Six, Six this is Ivan, he's been a good friend while you were away."

"Pleased to meet you Ivan." Six nodded to the young man before turning back to Rex, "come and find me when you've got a minute, we can talk."

"That's OK, we were about to wrap this up anyway, see you Ivan." Rex flung the last words over his shoulder as he headed for the door side by side with Agent Six.

"See you Rex" Ivan's words trailed off as the door slammed shut behind the departing men and a look of stone cold fury settled over his normally pleasant features as he thought about the way Rex had dropped him like a bad habit just because some old guy had turned up. He raised the ball high above his head and slammed it into the ground in a surge of raw anger before storming off to the showers.

Oblivious to the effect their leaving had had on Ivan, Rex and Six walked together back to Rex's quarters. An expectant silence hung over them both, neither quite sure what would happen when they reached their destination.

All too soon and not soon enough they found themselves outside the room, Rex turned the handle and pushed the door open. Six followed him inside, gently closing the door behind him then standing in front of it he watched Rex, waiting for the younger man to make the first move. Back at the training rooms Rex had seemed pleased to see him, but it appeared that his mood had changed on the walk back, now he was pacing angrily back and forth.

"You left me!" Rex finally blurted out revealing the cause of his anger.

"I told you that I wanted you to take a week to think about what you wanted, I needed to give you time, you couldn't have that with me close by." Six tried to explain his actions to the angry EVO before him, "I did what I thought was right, and you don't seem to have had any trouble making a new friend while I was away." As soon as the last words left his lips Six knew that they were a mistake. He had suffered through the preceding week, worried that the time would allow Rex to come to his senses and realise that he was tying himself to an old man. Seeing Rex playing basketball with the young soldier earlier had brought all those fears back to the surface, Rex's anger had been the final straw causing Six to make accusations he never truly believed.

"Ivan! puhlease! He's been a good friend whilst you've been away, we've played basketball to burn off excess energy and he's been someone I could talk to but that's all." Rex couldn't believe what he was hearing from Six and turned to face him ready to pour more scorn on the other man's unfounded accusations. However the words died unspoken as he saw the hastily hidden pain that flashed across the older man's face.

Swallowing hard against the lump in his throat at the thought of what he had nearly thrown away, Rex took a deep breath and closing his eyes counting down slowly from 10 in Spanish in his head. Only when he was sure that he had his temper under control did he open his eyes and step forward to stand directly in front of Six. Bringing his arms up he rested his hands on the green lapels of the man's jacket and looking up slightly to meet the taller man's eyes he murmured "I'm sorry, I missed you so much."

Rex felt the tension release from the body before him, Six raised his arms to cup his hands around the young EVO's shoulders holding him close. "I'm sorry too, that was uncalled for, you have every right to make new friends, I was jealous, I spent most of the last week terrified that you would come to your senses and realise that I'm far too old for you."

"You're not old" Rex flattened his palms against Six's chest and pushed gently to emphasize his words, "you're seasoned," Rex pushed again causing the taller man to take a step backwards pulling Rex with him. "You're mature," he pushed one more time and Six ended up pushed against the door. "You're." Six cut off any more words by leaning in and kissing Rex gently. At first he could feel Rex still trying to talk, but then he took advantage of Rex's open lips and plunged his tongue in to stroke across the inside of the younger man's mouth. As the warm, wet intruder entered his mouth Rex gave up on trying to find more synonyms for old and melted into the kiss as their tongues tangled and the taste of his soon to be lover rolled across his senses.

Using his grip on the younger man's shoulders Six twisted them both until he had Rex firmly held between his body and the wall. Both men were so deeply immersed in the kiss that they didn't even notice as the door, no longer blocked by their bodies, quietly opened and then closed again as Bobo crept out of the room undetected.

Eventually Six registered that Rex was pushing against his chest, trying to create some space between their bodies. Confusion and concern chased each other across his features as he ended the kiss and pulled back, anxiously searching the face of the man in his arms to see what was wrong. As soon as he moved back eager hands moved up to grab at his immaculate tie and began tugging feverishly at the knot trying to loosen it as Rex muttered, "too many clothes." Catching on quickly Six slid his hands up and inside the collar of Rex's trademark red and orange jacket pushing it off the younger man's shoulders and sliding it down his arms.

Rex dropped his arms and shook the jacket off, but before he was able to reach back up to tug the tie once more he felt strong hands grasping the hem of his shirt and pushing it up his flanks, instinctively he raised his arms allowing Six to pull the shirt off over his head. Casting the offending garment aside Six grasped his tie and pulled hard to release the knot tightened by Rex's inexpert fumbling. He was able to remove it allowing the strip of thin black silk to drop forgotten to the floor. "Yes," Rex's approval hissed sibilantly in the silence of the room, silence broken only by the harsh breathing of the two men and the rustling of clothes being removed as swiftly as possible.

With the tie out of the way Rex attacked the buttons of the crisp white shirt covering Six's broad chest while Six reached for the button fastening Rex's pants which he quickly undid before sliding the zipper down allowing him to hook his thumbs into the waistbands of both pants and boxers and pushing both items of clothing down over the slender hips of his young love. Realising he couldn't reach further to remove any more of Rex's clothing Six helped undo the last few buttons from his shirt before shrugging out of both shirt and jacket and reaching for his own fly. Eager as Rex was to complete the unveiling of his mentor's toned and well muscled body practical considerations intruded as the cloth tangled around his feet nearly caused him to fall and he concentrated on removing the last of his own clothes.

Seeing Rex finally step clear of the mess of clothing and shoes Six growled, "on the bed, now!" Rex felt a thrill of excitement run up his spine causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end and he hastened to obey the command. Leaping into the centre of the large bed he turned in time to see Six tug off his second sock and was able to enjoy the view as his tall, lean, tanned lover quickly covered the few strides and climbed onto the bed beside him.

As Six stretched out beside him Rex let his eyes run over the glorious sight before him. From the short, dark hair, past the fine, chiselled features on down to the broad chest with it's smattering of coarse, dark hair, further down to the washboard abs, he glossed quickly over the next bit before finally he followed the long legs down to the finely shaped feet. Finishing his perusal he raised his eyes back up to Six's face and met amused brown eyes normally hidden behind the ever-present dark glasses.

Suddenly feeling shy Rex ducked his head, staring at the sheets between their two bodies. Understanding that this was all a lot for the young man to take in Six reached out to place two fingers under Rex's chin and lift his face so he could meet his eyes once more. "Are you OK with this, we can slow things down if you're not comfortable."

"It's not that." Rex broke off and only the gentle pressure of Six's fingers kept his head up, "it's just that... I don't want to disappoint you" he muttered just barely loud enough for the other man to hear.

"You could never disappoint me Rex, why would you even think that?"

"I have no... experience, what if I'm no good at this? What if..." Rex mumbled the broken words, unable to express the fears that had risen up within him when he had realised that this was truly happening, he was finally with the man of his dreams, what if he couldn't measure up?

"Rex," Six released the younger man's chin and stroked the back of his hand down the handsome, young face before him. "This isn't about being good at anything, this is about being in love and enjoying being together." Now it was Six's turn to pause uncertainly hoping he wouldn't ruin everything with his next words. "Do you love me?"

"I... I think so" Rex replied "I thought I loved Circe, but those feelings were nothing to what I feel for you, I've had butterflies the size of vampire bats doing cartwheels in my stomach all week, every time I've thought about what might happen when you got back..."

Six waited a few moments, not wanting to interrupt if Rex had more to say, realising that words had once again failed the young EVO he spoke. "I love you, I've watched you grow up and I've been so proud of you. Over the last couple of years those feelings have grown more intense and I can finally admit that I love you." Six stopped, examining Rex's face for some reaction to his words, whatever he saw there must have satisfied him for he continued. "I want to be with you, but that doesn't have to mean sex if you're not ready for that, I don't want to put pressure on you, and I certainly don't want you to put pressure on yourself. Tell me honestly, what do you want to do now?"

"I want you to kiss me!" Rex spoke quickly, the words coming straight from his heart without any conscious thought.

Seeing only desire in Rex's eyes Six muttered softly "as you wish" and leaning forward he pressed his young lover down into the mattress and initiated a deep kiss that soon had Rex moaning with desire.

Some time later, licking his lips and wearing the expression of the cat that got the cream Six raised his head and smiled at the sight before him. Rex lay sprawled across the bed, a boneless heap of blissed out goo lacking the energy for anything more than a heartfelt hum of appreciation. Feeling sure that after such an intense climax Rex would not be able to form a coherent thought for some time yet, Six crawled up to stretch out beside his lover lazily stroking himself.

"Are you going to let that go to waste?" the slightly breathless question stilled Six's hand, his eyes which he hadn't realised had fluttered shut sprang open and he gazed into sparkling, brown eyes that glittered with mischief.

"I'm guessing the nanites cut down your recovery time?" he asked, amused. He'd expected a quick recovery from the young man barely out of his teens, but not quite that quick.

"You have no idea." laughed Rex before nodding down to where Six's hand was still lazily stroking.

Six glanced down, following Rex's line of sight, "ahh, what would you suggest?"

Leaning forward Rex gently kissed the older man, a dry brush of lips, almost chaste after the preceding activities. "Fuck me!"

Six was shocked at the crude words from Rex's mouth and even more so at the surge of arousal it sent through his body. "No" he murmured, running a gentle hand down Rex's cheek soothing the disappointed expression. "No, I won't fuck you, I will make love to you."

The smile that broke across Rex's face lit up the room and Six couldn't do anything else but lean in and initiate a deep and passionate kiss that quickly had both men groaning in need. Finally breaking off for air Six gasped a question, "lube?"

"In the night stand." Rex waved vaguely off the side of the bed.

Reaching over Six rummaged briefly through the contents of the drawer before producing a half full bottle of strawberry flavour lube. "Strawberry?"

Rex just shrugged, "it was on sale, and I only needed it for m..." he broke off, embarrassed at what he had almost admitted.

"Hey, I was twenty once you know, I do remember what it was like." Six reassured, laying the bottle aside for a moment as he manoeuvred Rex into position.

For a long time after that the only sounds in the room were the harsh panting breaths of the two men with the occasional deep groan and whispered words of love, reassurance, command and desperation until with trembling arms Six laid the exhausted Rex down on the bed with a pang of loss. He struggled to pull the covers out from beneath the dead weight of Rex's body. Finally he wrenched them free and spooning up behind the sleeping man he drew the covers up over them both. Sliding one arm around Rex's waist he pulled his love tightly to him, vowing as he slipped gently into sleep never to let Rex go.

**The End**

**AN:** Well that's it for this story, thank you for coming along for the ride.


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